JACK (game)
JACK is a video game developed by Brock Productions for the Wii U. The game is a mix of action-adventure and turn-based RPG elements and is inspired by Chrono Trigger, Final Fantasy, and Ni No Kuni, among others. The games titular protagonist is Jack, a jackelope who has been blessed with the ability to conjure Mana and travels the universe to save it from destruction. Synopsis Jack, a Jackelope with the abillity to control Mana, is ripped from his peaceful home life when a scale of the ancient dimensional dragon Kyggzo crashes into the nearby forest. Now tasked with the collection of the rest of Kyggzo's scales, Jack must utilize his abilities and friends to accomplish his goals and unravel a bigger, more sinister plot at work. Gameplay The gameplay of JACK is a combination between action-adventure platformers and menu based RPGs. Exploration in the game takes place across vast landscapes that can be transverced by the main characters in a third-person perspective using a variety of techniques they learn. These range from simply jumping to swinging across poles and other advanced skills. Although exploration of the worlds is mostly non-linear, areas must be reached in a certain order in order to progress the story and unlock new worlds to search. Over the course of the story, Jack must complete dungeons containing puzzles and dangerous battles. Each dungeon has a base difficulty out of 10, but Jack can chose any diffuculty up to 3 ranks away (for example, if the base diffuculty is 6, he can chose a difficulty of 3 through 9). The difficulty affects the level of enemies, damage dealt by traps, and time limit. At the end of each dungeon is a strong Boss that requires more strategy than other enemies. Getting to and defeating the boss completes the dungeon, and doing so in a short amount of time and with higher difficulty gives a better prize. Towns and cities are spread throughout the landscape, filled with characters that can be talked to. These characters can sell items, provide tips, or help further the story. Some characters give quests that can be fulfilled to unlock new content and gain rewards, and usually involve defeating certain enemies or exploring certain locations. Jack can invest money in these towns to grow them, unlock new quests and stores, and increase the continous cashflow that Jack earns over time. Battle System Spread across the overworld are battlable enemies that spawn semi-randomly. When Jack contacts an enemy, Jack's friends appear and the enemies friends join him as a ring appears around the two parties, starting the battle. Each combatant has an HP meter and an Mana Meter. When a compatant's HP is lowered all the way to 0, they collapse on the ground and cannot battle anymore unless they are revived. If all of Jack's party is defeated, they must restart from the most recent save point. The goal is to defeat all of the opponents to end the battle and reap the rewards. Unlike most menu based RPGs, each encounter is battled out in a 3D space. Transition between the original landscape and the battle arena is seamless because they both occupy the same space. Each combatant can freely move around and jump, and attack in any direction. A feature similar to Z-Targeting in the Legend of Zelda series appears, where an enemy can be locked onto and the camera follows it, allowing for easier attacking. A dodge feature is present in the game, allowing characters to quickly move out of the way of attacks in any direction. Each character has three types of attacks; standard attacks, which involve melees and sometimes ranged attacks, special attacks, which can occur after being charged and are more powerful than standard attacks, and Skill attacks, which can be performed only if the corresponding Card is being used and sometimes use Mana. The Mana bar, which is used for some of these Skill attacks, slowly refills over battle, although it can also be charged with some Skills. Characters with higher Recharge stats recharge the Mana faster. Special spirits composed of elemental energy, called Familiars, assist Jack in battles. Jack can have up to three bracelets on his arm, each with a crystal. These crystals detirmine which Familiar is called, and other crystals can be used on the bracelet to augment their abilities. One unique move that only Jack can perform is Binding. This allows him to bind with a Familiar and enter into a supercharged form, giving him higher stats and a special elemental move that can majorly damage opponents. Binding can only be performed after the Familiar has charged enouh energy by attacking. In addition to these moves, characters can also block with their shields. A well timed block can stop damage entirely, and a perfect block can lead to a counter attack that deals high amounts of damage. However, some attacks can break blocks. This, in addition to dodging, allow characters to go entire battles without taking any damage. Characters can also use items to recover health or perform other special effects, Mastery of all of these moves is important for defeating the most powerful creatures. Card System JACK features a card system which is relatively similar to the Materia system prevalent in Final Fantasy 7. Each character starts off with a few slots in which they can equip cards; these cards have a variety of features, from adding additional skills to boosting stats. The exact types are listed below: *'Skill Cards': These cards grant the character with a special, usable skill during battle. These skills can be used by tapping their card or assigning them to some of the buttons on the chosen controller. This is the only way to perform magical attacks that use Mana and deal elemental damage; however, some cards perform physical damage or do no damage at all. *'Effect Cards': These cards grant the character with a special effect during battle. These range from general stat boosts to elemental modifiers on weapons to other special effects. Each card has a star ranking, just like the others, but it can be increased by combining cards of the same type that have been used in battle a fair amount; these cards have a higher ranking and their effects are increased. Because they can be leveled up, Effect Cards have less variety than other types of cards, but are just as plentiful. *'Chance Cards': These cards have a slight chance of happening during certain parts of the battle. The percentage of these events happening depends on the rank of the card, which can level up in much the same way as an Effect Card. The effects given by Chance Cards are usually very powerful, especially if their percentage of happening is lower than others, but they are not very likely to activate often. *'Enemy Cards': At the beginning of the game, Jack is given an Enemy Bibliography with a page for each area of the world, and a Skill Card called Enemy Scan. Characters can use Enemy Scan on an enemy to add it to the Bibliography. Scanning multiple times levels up the enemy within the Bibliography. If the enemy is fully leveled up, and all enemies in the area are scanned, the enemy turns into a usable card of either the Skill, Effect, or Chance variety. These cards are generally either very weak or very powerful, depending on the enemy, and reflect their characteristics and moves. *'amiibo Cards:' Added in a patch in the game. Scanning certain amiibo unlocks special cards that can only be used a certain number of times. They can have varying effects, and can be very powerful, so they are quite similar to enemy cards. Most feature effects that are similar to the amiibo figure scanned to unlock them, such as a firery inferno for Mario. Throughout their journey, characters are given many opportunities to increase their card capacity. These increases in capacity can come from rank ups, story events, or special items. Characters with more slots are better fit for battle as they have more skills and boosts avaliable to them. Sif The lush green landscapes of Sif are home to the most peaceful of all the galactic species, with anthromorphic bunnies, pigs, and deer being most prevalent. Giant trees inhabit the forest and spring seems to never end. Enemies Baldr The lush green landscapes of Sif are home to the most peaceful of all the galactic species, with anthromorphic bunnies, pigs, and deer being most prevalent. Giant trees inhabit the forest and spring seems to never end. Enemies Freyja The lush green landscapes of Sif are home to the most peaceful of all the galactic species, with anthromorphic bunnies, pigs, and deer being most prevalent. Giant trees inhabit the forest and spring seems to never end. Enemies Odin The lush green landscapes of Sif are home to the most peaceful of all the galactic species, with anthromorphic bunnies, pigs, and deer being most prevalent. Giant trees inhabit the forest and spring seems to never end. Enemies Allies Cards Skills Effects Chance amiibo This game only supports some of the more popular amiibo, such as the first Wave. Crystals Fire Wind Water Earth Ice Electric Support Category:Games Category:Wii U Games Category:Original Games Category:Brock Productions